Home Lighting Tips & Tricks

Home Lighting Tips and Tricks For Do It Yourself Interior Design

Whatever design theme you choose for your home lighting will always play an important role in letting you carry out tasks like cooking meals in the kitchen, reading a book in bed, or even applying makeup in the bathroom, among many other everyday activities.

In addition, the way a room is lit is vital to how appealing and comfortable it feels. Finally, lighting always makes us feel safer. Therefore, when planning your lighting, you need to consider all these factors and then some.

If this sounds overwhelming, you will probably be like many Do-It-Yourself interior designers and opt to throw a couple of lamps (table lamps, floor lamps, etc.) here and there along with the lighting system already built into your home.

However, read through this basic lighting guide and you might just turn your dull, dark room into an exciting, vibrant space.

Types of Home Lighting

In interior design, lighting falls into two distinct categories: natural and electric.

Natural lighting is any lighting based on the sun. Sunlight is the most efficient form of lighting (and free and unlimited as a bonus). On the other hand, electric lighting can add more character to any room, even a windowless basement. Since the sun does set, a combination of both natural and electric lighting is vital to your lighting design.

Natural Home Lighting

First, you need to maximize natural lighting by allowing sunlight to shine through your windows without disruption. You can achieve this by using blinds or muslin (a finely-woven cotton material) drapes. Furthermore, you can remove the secondary glazing from your windows that absorb light. In addition, obstructions like flower pots or planters on your window sills should also be removed.

What color your walls and floors are also affect how efficiently natural lighting is used in your room. We recommend the use of bright and airy colors like light blue, pale green, and lilac as opposed to heavy colors like brown, red, and orange.

Light colors will have the added bonus of making a room look more spacious while dark colors do the opposite. When it comes to choosing room colors, the closer it is to white, the better it reflects light. As for your floors, wood floors are more reflective while carpets absorb light. However, you can apply the color tips above when choosing carpet colors.

Finally, the use of mirrors placed on walls opposite your windows will also efficiently disperse light throughout the room.

Electric Home Lighting

Most pre-built homes will come with single light bulbs lighting an entire room or worse, fluorescent lights—all hanging in the center of the room. However, you can easily expand your electric lighting design. Fortunately, with the different types of lighting available, you can “layer” your lighting.

When using multiple lighting types (or layering), match it with the specific need the space demands even if it is all in the same room. Here are some examples:

1. For reading in bed – A table lamp will work well in this situation. There are many to the minimalist, modern styles to the traditional.

2. For highlighting a framed photograph, painting, or other wall décor – Use Track Lighting to put your wall décor front and center with a museum-like feel. Whatever lighting choice you decide on, make sure to light from above in order to literally place the spotlight on the object you want to call attention to.

3. For preparing food in the kitchen Track Lighting will give you sufficient illumination for food preparation. Since tasks will include slicing and dicing as well as referencing cookbooks now and then, as much as light as possible is always a plus.

4. For enjoying meals and conversation at the dining room table – To achieve a cozy yet grand atmosphere in your dining room, a chandelier is the ideal choice. Use a dimmer in conjunction to give further customization to your lighting system to match any atmosphere you want to set.

5. For fixing your hair and makeup before leaving the house – Bath and Vanity Lighting will complement your mirror.

6. For working on the computer or sorting and paying bills at your desk – For activities that require focused lighting, including working on the computer or balancing your checkbook, Task Lighting is your best choice. Ensure to have enough light to do the job. That means choosing the right desk lamp.

Without lighting, all the details you put in the design of a room is literally in the dark (since lighting includes natural lighting e.g. sunlight).

Here are some additional tips and tricks we will leave you with to help you plan your lighting system best:

Use dimmers to give you control over the atmosphere you want to create using one lighting source. With dimmers you can go from a romantic dinner for two to a lively kids birthday party. What’s more, dimmers are great for energy conservation.

Implement separate switches for each of your light sources. This will also give you much wanted control to light up specific spaces as opposed to the whole room.

You can make use of cool halogen lamps to add more “drama” to everyday objects like house plants or large vases. Just place them behind the object.

You can use decorative lighting to add color to a room. However, do not always count on them to provide sufficient lighting for your activities. Decorative lighting is as its name indicates—adds “décor” to your room.

A successful home lighting scheme will take into consideration both the tasks needed to be done in the space (e.g. reading, writing, cooking) and the atmosphere you want to set (e.g. cozy, romantic, vibrant, lounge). Fortunately, by following the tips and tricks above, you do not need to sacrifice one for the other.

Find the right lamp for all purposes at Cumax!